Media transcription, synchronization and search

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to the field of computer search on a network and is particularly directed to searching for and displaying audio and/or audio-video (“A-V”) results. A system and method provide seamless delivery of audio and A-V results that are auto-populated into a media player on a computer system.

RELATED UNITED STATES APPLICATION DATA

This application claims priority benefit from U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/240,081, filed on Sep. 4, 2009.

BACKGROUND

It is an everyday occurrence for most of us to use an Internet searchtool on a computer connected to a network to find any conceivableinformation that is of interest to us. As more and more information isposted on the internet, as well as on private networks, the need toefficiently search and access that information has grown exponentially.Search has become a huge business dominated by Google, Inc. of MountainView, Calif. In response to a search string or query input by a user, asearch engine such as Google's considers a host of factors before itdelivers a prioritized list of results. Other companies offering similarsearch services to users hungry for information include Microsoft,Yahoo, and IAC among others.

The most successful search engines use keywords typed in by the user tocomb through millions of web pages in search of relevant informationthat the search engine algorithms are programmed to return. Fortext-based web pages, this type of searching has proven enormouslysuccessful. As bandwidth for internet users has expanded, web pages havebecome far more sophisticated and dynamic, now hosting many differentformats such as audio, video and/or A-V recordings that can be played bya user through their internet connection. For purposes of thisspecification, the terms audio, video, A-V, media and multimedia are allfiles containing content of the different types that may be streamedlive or played back from a recording. It should be further understoodthat any of these different types of content lend themselves to storageand play back in different file formats which will be discussedthroughout the specification. It should be understood that the use of“audio,” “video,” “A-V,” “media” or “multimedia” individually ortogether throughout this specification is intended to cover any one ormore of these content types in one or more formats where appropriate.

As these different types of media have proliferated across the web andbecome standard on internet web pages, the search engines have failed tokeep up in terms of the ability to search the content of non-text-basedformats such as audio, video and A-V recordings. While text-based pagesare predominantly in one of a few formats such as XML, HTML, DOC, or PDFthat allow strings of characters to be identified and compared,searching the content of an audio, video or A-V recording is far morechallenging.

Of the media players available on the market today, none allow for asimple, seamless searching and synchronized playing of a selectedsegment of audio, video and/or A-V content directly from the popularsearch engines.

However, once the audio track of recorded material that contains speech,sounds or visual cues is converted to text, that text is searchable bysearch engines available in the market today. It is worth noting thatthe actual search results produced by a search engine analyzing atranscribed audio, video or A-V track is only as accurate as thespeech-to-text, sound-to-text or visual-to-text transcription that isperformed.

While text based search engines are widely available for network use,audio, video and/or A-V search tools are not. An example of a limitedcapability search tool for video is the experimental video search“gadget” (formerly the “Gaudi gadget”) provided by Google of MountainView, Calif. On Google's web pages dedicated to political videos, a usermay search the videos on a limited set of web pages by entering a searchterm in the search query box. The results from the limited set of webpages are listed and can be selected by a user to be taken to thebeginning of the video that contains that term.

There are various companies offering software that uses algorithms toautomatically produce transcripts from audio, which are thensynchronized with video containing the audio. One such product isMetaPlayer produced by RAMP, Inc. of Woburn, Mass. (formerly Everyzing,Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.) Companies like RAMP offer search within anindividual video by searching for a text string matching text in thetranscription. When a search string is entered for a particular video,results are listed. When a result is selected, the video is played fromthat occurrence of the searched string.

The present invention recognizes the desirability of producing advancedsearch capabilities for audio-only and/or audio-video content, as wellas the use of those same capabilities enhanced with accuratetranscription and synchronization.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a is an internet screen shot of a search page;

FIG. 1 b is an internet screen shot of a search page including a searchstring input by a user into a query box;

FIG. 1 c is an internet screen shot of a search result page returned bya search engine in response to the search string entered in FIG. 1 b;

FIG. 1 d is an internet screen shot of a web page to which a user istaken after clicking on a highlighted search result in FIG. 1 c;

FIG. 2 a is an internet screen shot of a YouTube web page;

FIG. 2 b is an internet screen shot of the YouTube web page including asearch string input by a user;

FIG. 2 c is an internet screen shot of a search result page returned bythe YouTube search engine in response to the search string entered inFIG. 2 b;

FIG. 2 d is an internet screen shot of a web page to which a user istaken after clicking on the highlighted search result in FIG. 2 c;

FIG. 3 a is an internet screen shot of a search engine web pageincluding a search string input by a user intended to narrow resultsreturned by putting quotation marks around the search string, inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 b is an internet screen shot of a search result page returned bya search engine in response to the search string entered in FIG. 3 a, inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 c is an internet screen shot of a media player where the selectedsearch result highlighted in FIG. 3 a has been selected andautomatically passed through to the search box in the media player andwhere audio-video content is queued to an occurrence of the searchstring, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 d is an internet screen shot of a help screen for a sample mediaplayer of the present invention, which explains the features and how tooperate the player;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a sample embodiment of a media player processin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a sample embodiment of media player softwarecode in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system and network of thepresent invention connected to permit a user to perform searches andreview media results of audio, video and/or A-V content.

SPECIFICATIONS Detailed Description

Searching the internet for information using a computer is performedusing any of a number of available search tools. As any person familiarwith the internet knows, it is a simple exercise to type in a query, andwithin a second or less have a list of results, descriptions or “hits”with links to web pages that are related to the key words typed into theuser query. The user can click any hit to drill down into the searchresults and determine whether any particular hit is of interest.Searching in this manner can assist a user in an infinite number of waysin finding information related to products to purchase, product prices,news clips, sports scores, biographical information, historical data,stock prices or just about anything else that an individual can imagineor think of.

An example of a search page is shown in FIG. 1 a. FIG. 1 a is a screenshot 101 of a search page provided by Google, Inc. of Mountain View,Calif. Search page 101 contains a number of other elements such as links105 in the upper left corner for taking the user to other applicationsoffered by Google. These applications are Images 105 a, Video 105 b,Maps 105 c, News 105 d, Shopping 105 e, Gmail 105 f and more 105 g thatwill list other links if selected. A user may type their query into aquery box 107 and then click on Google Search box 109, I'm Feeling Luckybox 111 or simply press the enter key on the keyboard (see FIG. 6) tostart the search. The screenshot of FIG. 1 a is shown using the Firefoxbrowser offered by Mozilla of Mountain View, Calif. It should beunderstood that a user can use another browser such as Internet Exploreror Bing offered by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. or any otherbrowser enabling a user to access web pages on the internet.

FIG. 1 b shows the search page of FIG. 1 a where the query or searchstring “An epiphany hit me. You gotta make something good” has beentyped into the query box 107. Once the search string is entered, thesearch tool performs a search across the internet employing algorithmsprogrammed to return search results that are deemed most relevant to theentered string. Some search tools are better at delivering relevantresults than others, and different search tools may deliver differentresults on the same string. Users may find a favorite search tool andstick with it exclusively or may employ multiple search tools in theirquest to find the most pertinent information.

FIG. 1 c shows the results 113 a-c of a traditional internet searchdelivered by the Google search tool for the string “An epiphany hit me.You gotta make something good” entered into query box 107. As mentionedabove, the user can click on any of the returned results or “hits.” Eachhit is hyperlinked to the web page containing the searched-forinformation and allows the user to be taken to that page by simplyclicking on the hit. Additional hits are available to the user byclicking on the “O”s 115 or numbers under the O's 119 at the bottom ofFIG. 1 c.

FIG. 1 d shows a resulting web page from the website TED.com, after theuser clicks on the highlighted result 113 a in the listed searchresults. The information displayed on the TED web page 121 is presumablysomething of interest to the user based on the search string theyentered into the query box 107. If not, the user may simply hit the“back” button 123 on the browser window and go back to search results113. Once back at the search result page FIG. 1 c, the user may select adifferent result from the list of search results 113 and pull up thecorresponding web page to determine whether that web page containsinformation of interest.

This process may be repeated numerous times until the user gathers theinformation that they are looking for. To date, this process has becomethe standard for searching the internet for information. One area ofinterest that is largely omitted from the search results is audio, videoand/or A-V content. The reason for this is that the search enginesavailable to users today search the web pages of the internet bycomparing a text-based search string entered in query box 107 (FIG. 1 a)to the text that appears in different formats on the web pages. Thetypical formats that are searchable include extensible markup language(“XML”), hypertext markup language (“HTML”), portable document format(“PDF”), word documents (“DOC” and “DOCX”) and a number of others thatare recognized and regularly used by web programmers.

A problem that exists is that the standard search engines are notequipped to search anything other than text-based strings. In the pastfew years, as user bandwidth has increased, there has been an explosionof audio, video and A-V content made available to internet users on webpages. Anyone with a media player accessible through their computer caneasily access audio content such as songs, speeches, audio books,movies, or any other sound-based content as well as any audio that isincluded with video content, either in recorded or live form. Some ofthe most popular web pages on the internet such as the website YouTube(owned by Google, Inc.) are dedicated entirely to A-V content and allowusers to access A-V content uploaded by other users.

FIG. 2 a is an internet screen shot of a YouTube web page 201. To searchthe content media files on YouTube to find those of most interest to auser, the user types a text-based string into a query box 203. Thisprocess is very similar to the process described for a standard searchusing the Google search page in FIGS. 1 a-1 d. FIG. 2 b shows YouTubeweb page 201 with the search string “An Epiphany hit me. You gotta makesomething good” entered in query box 203. To find the most relevant A-Vcontent, YouTube employs a search algorithm that is based on atext-based description of the media file input by the person whouploaded it to the YouTube web site. The text-based description of thevideo input for user-uploaded video is typically limited to auser-designated title and may also include a short description of thecontent.

FIG. 2 c shows an example of results 205 a-d returned to the user basedon the query entered. There is no capability to search the actual audiotrack of the recordings available on YouTube to find and display thespecific words embedded in the recording itself. But the YouTube searchengine will deliver results that it determines are closest to the inputquery. Once the results are returned, as with the Google search of FIG.1 a through FIG. 1 d, YouTube permits a user to click on any of the hits205 a-d to be linked to the page corresponding to the selected hit. Asan example, if a user clicks on hit 205 a for Angela Bofill “Gotta Makeit Up To You,” the user is taken to web page 207 (FIG. 2 d), allowingthe user to access the video file identified in search result 205 a.Once a user accesses web page 207, the user can play the selectedrecording from its starting point using a media player (such as a flashbased media player for example produced by Adobe Systems, Incorporatedof San Jose, Calif.) loaded on their computer (or residing on anaccessible network like the Internet) represented on web page 207 asdisplay window 211, and having controls 209.

Controls 209 include a play button 209 a that allows the user to playthe video file by clicking on it. Once the video is playing, play button209 a becomes a pause button (not shown), allowing the user to pause thevideo at any time while it is playing. In pause mode, the pause buttontoggles back to being play button 209 a. A progress bar 209 b shows therelative elapsed portion of the video that has been played and isrepresented by a dot 209 b 1 that advances along progress bar 209 buntil the video is complete, at which time dot 209 b 1 will reach thefar right side of progress bar 209 b. Also within progress bar 209 is atimer 209 c showing both the elapsed time from the beginning of thevideo and the time remaining until the video is complete. Other buttonsto control the video include a volume control 209 d, a high-qualityswitch 209 e, a full screen switch 209 f that allows a user to watch thevideo on the full screen rather than inside the smaller framed displaywindow 211 within YouTube web page 207, and a closedcaptioning/annotations button 209 g for activating and de-activatingthose functions.

The video itself is shown in display window 211, and advertising 213 istypically shown on the right side of web page 207. The flash-based videoplayer of FIG. 2 d is one example of such a player. There are manyflash-based video players available and other such players may have adifferent appearance while offering similar functionality to play videoin different formats with or without a corresponding audio track.

It should be noted that the search tools and other applicationsdescribed in this disclosure for use on a desktop computer also apply toany other device, such as a laptop computer, a netbook, a mobilesmartphone, online televisions systems or any other device havingnetwork access and a web-browser with video capabilities available tothe user.

The invention recognizes that a user searching the internet is just aslikely to be seeking audio, video or A-V content as they are to besearching for standard text-based content, given that audio content,video content and A-V content are an alternative form of providinginformation to text in XML, HTML or other formats typically used todisplay information on a web page.

The advanced search capabilities of the present invention provide foruser search on the internet or across any other electronic storagemedium where audio-only, non-verbal video (e.g. sign language signalingin a video or the display of visual signs or text in a video) and/or A-Vmedia content resides and can be returned along with standard textresults. FIG. 3 a shows an internet screen shot of a search tool that isthe same as that shown in FIG. 1 a with a search string “An epiphany hitme. You gotta make something good” entered in query box 303. FIG. 3 bshows the search results 305 including not just text-based searchresults but also any audio-only, video-only and combined A-V contentthat match the search string. When an audio-only, video-only or A-Vresult 305 is selected by the user from the list, the search string ispassed automatically from search box 303 in the search tool to a searchbox 313 in media player 309 of the invention shown in FIG. 3 c allowingmedia player 309 to be queued for play of audio-only, video-only and/orA-V content at the first occurrence in the content of the originalsearch string. The audio-only, video-only or A-V content is alsosynchronized to the time-coded corresponding text in a transcriptiondisplay window 321.

FIG. 3 d shows a “help screen” for a sample media player 311 of the typedescribed with respect to FIG. 3 c with descriptions for the differentparts of media player 311. Sample media player 311 is in the form of asoftware application that allows a user to accurately search a word orphrase using a standard search tool 301 such as Google or Bing. Once theresults for a search string are selected, the media content isauto-populated to be viewed in various ways: First, the search string intext form is shown in search box 313 and indicated by highlighting,italicizing, bolding or in any other manner along with the rest of thetext-based transcript in transcription display window 321; second, thesearch string in text form along with the rest of the text-basedtranscript is shown in captioning bar 315; third, a time line of themedia content is shown with one or more search string index markers 317indicating the points along the time line the search string occurs inthe content. The corresponding video content is shown in display window319 as the audio content is played and the text is shown intranscription display window 321.

The present invention allows a user to go beyond standard text-basedsearch and search audio content either alone or in sync with videocontent to find the specific occurrences of words within the audio,video or audio-video content. This is accomplished by providing atranscription of the audio content and making it available to besearched using a standard text-based search field. When a user types aquery into search box 313 of media player 309, the matches are displayedin a number of ways. The text matches appear highlighted intranscription display window 321, and the corresponding audio, video oraudio-video is displayed synced to that search string text result. Theuser plays the corresponding audio or video from that point in the fileby pressing the ENTER key on the computer keyboard (see FIG. 6) or usingthe mouse to click on the PLAY button or anywhere on media window 309.The user then has the ability to jump to the next occurrence of thatsame search string within the content. This can be accomplished in anynumber of ways. As an example, the user may press the RIGHT ARROW buttonor ENTER key on the keyboard. The corresponding audio, video or A-V issynchronized, so it also advances instantly. In addition, if the userreads ahead or back in transcript display window 321 and would like tolisten to another portion of the transcript, the user simply clicks onthat text in the transcription display window 321, and the content filedisplayed in media window 309 automatically plays from that location.

Data mining of multimedia content is achieved by the invention, whichgenerates accurate search engine optimization (“SEO”) and social mediaoptimization (“SMO”) as a benefit to the web site content providers andowners making the content available on their web page(s). Examples ofsocial media sites are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. Thesteps for performing SEO and SMO are shown in the Flowchart of PlayerProcess referenced in and further explained in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

It should be noted that there are numerous methods of transcription(including realtime transcription, realtime captioning and automaticspeech-to-text transcription) and numerous ways of generating time codesthat can be used to synchronize text and audio or video (such asrealtime transcription, realtime captioning, extraction of closedcaptions, and hand synchronization) that would be recognized by those ofordinary skill in the art in the field of transcription. The inventionrecognizes and accommodates these various methods.

It should be noted that there are numerous formats of audio and videofiles produced and in widespread use today. Conversion from one formatto another is common and the invention is compatible with any type offile. This disclosure is not intended to be limited to use with anyparticular file format.

FIG. 4 illustrates a representative process for displaying media contentin accordance with the present invention. Audio or video content isprovided at step 401. To maximize the efficiency and accuracy of asearch, it is preferable for the audio content to be accuratelytranscribed in step 403. If necessary, the audio or video is convertedto a video format compatible with the specific synchronization softwarebeing used (such as TimeCoder Pro by InData Corp. of Gilbert, Ariz.) atstep 405. Using the accurate transcript and the video file, thesynchronization software is used to produce a time-coded, (andcaptioning-friendly) text file at step 407. The text file is thenchecked for accuracy and synchronization at step 409 against the video.Following the correction of errors, if any, the file is then exported toan .XML file at step 411. The .XML file contains the text and the timecodes which correspond to elapsed time in the video. The video is thenconverted to the final video format required by the media player (inthis case, a standard .FLV web-based flash file format) also at step411. The video is then uploaded to the video server at step 413. The.XML file (as well as any supporting files that customize the look ofthe player, that display the transcript or the client logo, etc) areuploaded to any web site at step 413, along with the index.php andconfig.php files. The proprietary index.php and config.php files aremodified to point to the correct directories and corresponding files atstep 415. An example of the modification of the config.php file is asfollows:

$config[‘videos’][4][‘video_title’] = “David Gallo- UnderwaterAstonishments”; $config[‘videos’][4][‘video_url’] =“rtmp:/vod/DavidGallo2007.flv”; $config[‘videos’][4][‘xml_file’] =“http://72.167.41.166/newclient/ted/davidgallo/DG042609.xml”;$config[‘videos’][4][‘pdf_download’] =“http://72.167.41.166/newclient/ted/davidgallo/Underwater.pdf”;$config[‘videos’][4][‘client_logo’] =“http://72.167.41.166/newclient/ted/davidgallo/RTIlogo.jpg”;

The index.php and config.php files cross reference one another anddetermine the design layout of the web site, as discussed below. In thisparticular process, the final steps are to clear the cache and test theplayer on different web browsers, submit to search engines and/or makesure the web site containing the video content gets indexed frequentlyat step 417. (Further illustrated and explained in FIG. 5, below.)

The flowchart of the player scripting process is shown in FIG. 5. Oncethe output of the .XML code is generated at step 501, the index.php andconfig.php scripting process are designed to receive updated time codeinformation reporting to the exact position reference point in thecontent file at step 503. This highlights, bolds, italicizes or in someother way indicates to the user the searched text string in thecorresponding text transcription display window 321 adjacent to theplayer in Javascript at step 505. This process is repeated as the playeris advanced line by line in the .XML code at step 507. The scriptadditionally duplicates the .XML data via a static HTML code that isnecessary for indexing and web crawling by popular search engines (e.g.Google, Bing and others) at step 509. While playing the content, theHTML code is modified to highlight the passage of the relevanttranscript phrase at step 511. Google or other Web search engines are bynature designed to crawl and index web sites that contain this staticHTML code at step 513. Once the search engine indexes the page, theresults are displayed for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes atstep 513. The results are designed to bring the user to the playerwithin one click of the mouse, efficiently and seamlessly with thesearch query phrase auto-populated and ready to play at that referencepoint at step 515 and 517 respectively.

The .XML, JavaScript and flash .FLV files are uniquely used togetherduring playback in the following manner: As the content plays, atime-coded update is sent to the external script, reporting its exactposition in a progress bar that is the same or having similar functionto progress bar 317 shown in FIG. 3 d. The script receives thistime-coded information and highlights or displays the transcript textcontent in the .XML file that corresponds with the synchronized timecode in the content. (Note: The .XML file contains both the transcripttext and the time-coded information). A sample of the .XML file is asfollows:

<TimeMs>18780</TimeMs> <PageNo>1</PageNo> <LineNo>1</LineNo> <QA>-</QA><Text>We are going to go on a dive to the deep sea,</Text> </Line> −<Line ID=“1”> <Stream>0</Stream> <TimeMs>22340</TimeMs><PageNo>1</PageNo> <LineNo>2</LineNo> <QA>-</QA> <Text>and anyone that'shad that lovely opportunity</Text> </Line> − <Line ID=“2”><Stream>0</Stream>

Upon the content playing, the transcript display script will receiveconstant updates and will show each .XML content value that exactlycorresponds to the content as it is playing. Before the content isplayed, the complete transcript is additionally listed in static HTML tofacilitate search engine crawling/indexing for SEO purposes. Uponplaying the content or searching the transcript, this HTML code ismodified to highlight or otherwise indicate the relevant phrase to theuser. This static HTML is modified with industry standard coding inJavaScript. Upon a user clicking on a selected link in a list of searchresults 305, the player page will load, pull the key phrases from thesearch query box 303 using techniques understood by and commonly knownto those of ordinary skill in the art, and automatically perform aninternal search on the transcript for this same search string, and thenlist the search results at the top of the page (each are linked to theappropriate starting point within the media player.) The completetranscript will still be shown in the transcription display window 321below this box with the search string populated and indicated to theuser. Hitting the ENTER or TAB key or clicking on one of the searchstrings will take the user to the exact point in the content that isfound by the search string. Once the content is opened in the mediaplayer, the user can easily search content using the features describedwith respect to FIGS. 3 a-3 d above and further explained with respectto the help page of FIG. 3 d.

The $_SERVER[‘HTTP_REFERRER’] variable is used by developers for manydifferent reasons and applications. In the current invention, it is usedto search for audio, video and audio-video content to be easily browsedby providing the content as generic, textual search data that can beconsumed by any third-party search utility that operates by searchingtext. (e.g. Google, Bing, etc.). Or, as a means to detect what the usersearched for in the third-party search tool, and to automatically queuethe resulting content to best match that information.

One example of how this is accomplished is as follows:

-   a) A content file with embedded timeline information is provided in    .FLV. A textual transcript of the video/audio content is provided    with time-markers embedded in the transcript that indicates the    corresponding part of the content file in XML.-   b) The transcript and content file are programmed such that the text    is linked to the specific point in the timeline that corresponds    with that transcript. An example of this is in FIG. 3 c showing the    XML file contents and in the XML sample shown above. The time in    milliseconds is shown in the first line of the XML file above as    18780 or 18.780 seconds (also see Appendix A), and that time is from    the start point of the content file. This additionally can be    referenced as page and line numbers as described with respect to    FIG. 5 above.-   c) The complete transcript is displayed as plain HTML text so as to    be picked up by search engines and other third-party search indexing    tools.-   d) Once the transcript has been indexed by the third-party search    tool (e.g. Google, Bing, etc.), using HTML, which search engines are    set to crawl automatically and index, it is included in search    results such as search results 305 in FIG. 3 b.-   e) By default, when the user is on the results page (FIG. 3 b), the    URL of the results page reflects the search they just performed, as    in the above example:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Dr.+Edith+Widder%2C+she+is+now+at+the+Ocean+Research+%26+Conservation+Association%2C+was+able+to+come+up+with+a+camera+that+could+capture+some+of+these+incredible+animals&cad=h

-   f) When a user clicks on the results link, they are taken into the    media player.-   g) The system reads a server environment variable for that request    that tells the system the URL from where the user came. (Ex: In a    PHP file, this value is retrieved with the Javascript command $    SERVER[‘HTTP REFERER’] variable contains this data). In the case of    the above search image, this value would be as follows (the URL of    the search string, the “referring” page):

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Dr.+Edith+Widder%2C+she+is+now+at+the+Ocean+Research+%26+Conservation+Association%2C+was+able+to+come+up+with+a+camera+that+could+capture+some+of+these+incredible+animals&cad=h

-   h) This value is parsed for the search query that the user typed    into the search engine. In this example, it was:    -   “Dr. Edith Widder, she is now at the Ocean Research &        Conservation Association, was able to come up with a camera that        could capture some of these incredible animals”-   i) A secondary query is then automatically performed on the    transcript for the presence of this search string. Before the system    loads to the user, this search on the transcript is performed, and    the user is presented with the content with a search already    performed on the transcript. The parts of the transcript that were    found during this secondary search are then provided prominently by,    for example, auto-populating in the search window 313 using    highlighting, underlining, bolding, italics and/or close captioning    315 over all other results. They allow for the user to click on them    and be taken to the precise location in the video/audio where this    searched-for string appears as displayed in transcription display    window 321.

Appendix A attached hereto and incorporated by reference herein shows atypical page source html code listing from a sample synchronized videotranscript.

FIG. 6 is a simple block diagram of a system, including a networked homecomputer 601, on which the invention may be implemented. Home computer601 is shown having a screen 603, a keyboard 605, a mouse 607 and acentral processing unit (“CPU”) 609. Home computer 601 is connected to anetwork 611 through a USB port (not shown), a wireless connection usinga wireless router 613 or any of a number of other connector ports thatare typically used on computers to connect them to outside networkseither directly or through a service provider using cable, satellite,phone or other service lines 615 coming into the user location. Theconnection to network 611 permits home computer 601 to have access tothe internet or another network where a user can conduct searches asdescribed throughout this disclosure. It will be understood that othertypes of devices with search capabilities can be substituted for homecomputer 601. These devices may include wireless smartphones, laptopcomputers, netbooks, online television systems or any other deviceconfigured to use a web or network browser.

Home computer 601 is capable of executing software applicationsincluding search and media players as described herein. Suchapplications are executed on home computer 601 and may reside locally onhome computer 601 or at a remote location on network 611.

It is to be understood that the above descriptions and drawings are onlyfor illustrating representative variations of the present invention andare not intended to limit the scope thereof. Any variation andderivation from the above description and drawings are included in thescope of the present invention. For example, while a linear progress bar209 b has been shown in the figures, there are many different ways torepresent the progress of the audio-video content as it is played. Acircular depiction could be shown instead or any other visual techniquefor letting a user know the current position within the audio or A-Vtrack relative to beginning and/or end point(s).

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of conducting internet search forfinding and displaying results including audio content, comprising: (a)inputting a search string of text; (b) finding search results includingthe search string in text and one or both of audio and audio-videocontent; (c) providing a list of the search results to the user; (d)selecting a result from the list that has one or both of audio oraudio-video content; (e) opening a media player that is auto-populatedto displays the selected result with a textual transcript displayedsynchronized to either audio or audio-video content with the searchstring indicated to a user for the selected result; and (f) queuing theaudio or audio-video content to begin play in the media player beginningat an occurrence of the search string.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising showing a marker for at least one location of the search texton an indicator at a point in the audio or audio-video contentcorresponding to an occurrence of the search string.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising indicating an occurrence of the search stringat each location where the search string appears in the transcript. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein the audio or audio-video content is queuedto begin play at a first occurrence of the search string.
 5. The methodof claim 1 wherein the search string is indicated to a user by one ormore of the following: a) highlighting the text; b) italicizing thetext; and/or c) bolding the text.
 6. A system for searching on a networkto find and display results comprising: (a) a computer system; (b) adisplay connected to the computer system for displaying information; (c)at least one user interface connected to the computer system forinputting instructions to the computer system; (d) a network to whichthe computer system is connected; (e) a search application operable by auser through the and user interface that is executed by the computersystem to search a string of text embedded in web pages on the networkand to present search results of at least text and one or both of audioor audio-video content on the display; (f) a media player applicationoperable by a user through the user interface that is executed by thecomputer system to play audio or audio-video content upon a particularsearch result having audio or audio-video content being selected by theuser from the list of search results; and (g) wherein the media playeris opened and auto-populated to a search result of audio or audio-videocontent and the textual transcript is displayed synchronized to theaudio or audio-video content and queued to a start of an occurrence ofthe search string.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein the search string isindexed to at least one location on a progress indicator with a markerat a point in the audio or audio-video content corresponding to anoccurrence of the search text string.
 8. The system of claim 6 wherein atextual transcript of the audio or audio-video content is displayed withthe search string indicated to a user at each occurrence in thetranscript.
 9. The system of claim 6 wherein the audio or audio-videocontent is queued to begin play at the first occurrence of the searchstring.
 10. The system of claim 6 wherein the search string is indicatedto a user on the display by one or more of the following: a)highlighting the text; b) italicizing the text; and/or c) bolding thetext.
 11. A method of conducting internet search for finding anddisplaying results including audio content, comprising: (a) inputting asearch string; (b) finding search results including the search string intext and audio or audio-video content; (c) providing a list of thesearch results to the user; (d) selecting a result from the list thathas one or both of audio or audio-video content; (e) opening a mediaplayer that is auto-populated to play selected audio or audio videocontent and the textual transcript displayed synchronized to the audioor audio-video content; (f) providing a progress indicator with at leastone location of the search string represented as a marker on theprogress indicator corresponding to an occurrence of the search stringin the audio or audio-video content; and (g) queuing the audio oraudio-video content to begin play in the media player beginning at anoccurrence of the search string.
 12. The method of claim 11 furthercomprising displaying a textual transcript of audio or audio-videocontent with the search string indicated to the user.
 13. The method ofclaim 12 further comprising indicating the search string at eachoccurrence in the transcript.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein theaudio or audio-video content begins play at a first occurrence of thesearch string.
 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the search string isindicated to a user by one or more of the following: a) highlighting thetext b) italicizing the text; and/or c) bolding the text.